Portuguese Guitar Method Books and Transcriptions for playing Lisbon Fado

Portuguese Guitar: Fados and Counter-Melodies, by Eurico Cebolo Book 1 with CD $45 with shipping in the US;

Cebolo's Book 2 with CD and DVD is $50 including shipping in the United States;

Cebolo's Books 3, 4, 5 with CD and DVD $60.

Sons De Lisboa (Sounds of Lisbon) a book of solo Portuguese Guitar pieces by transcribed Marcio Silva, $60 book with CD.

The Guitarra Magica book has been discontinued. It has been replaced by a new book from Eurico Cebolo entitled, Guitarra Portuguesa: Fado e Contracantos, Metodo para Tocar e Acompanhar o Fado de Lisboa Book 1 (Portuguese Guitar: Fados and Counter-Melodies, Method to Play and to Accompany the Fado of Lisboa). This new book comes with a CD.

The price is $45 for the book with CD including shipping in he US.

This new book is 22 pages longer than the earlier book (Guitarra Magica). It is a greatly improved method over the original. It deals with the technical aspects of playing the Lisbon style Portuguese guitar and focusses on the Fado major and fado menor. It eliminates the folkloric (non-fados) examples which were in the Guitarra Magica. Everything is explained is clear detail. The CD is a tremendous aid to learning and internalizing all of the material. When you can actually hear how the written music notation sounds, you learn more easily; when you can see where you put your fingers in the tablature diagrams you can have confidence in what you are doing. This book will give you a good foundation for learning the Portuguese guitar.

This book written in Portuguese, English and French. The materials in this book are coordinated with audio material on the CD starting with the exercises.

Here is the complete contents:

page 1-2 Title page

page 3 Copyright information for this book and its CD

page 4 - 5 Detailed Index

page 6-7 Author Memories (a background of the author)

page 8 Fado Origins

page 9 Parts of the Fado Guitarra (with chart)

page 10 Playing position (with photos)

page 11 Chart of the fingerboard along, with the musical notes at each fret

page 12 How ro read music

page 13 How to tune the guitarra with a piano, uning fork or pitch pipe

page 14-15 How to internall tune the guitarra--thatis, from one srig to another

page 16 How to loop the strings end, with a string winder, with a wire hook or with 2 coins

page 17 How to attach looped string to the bottom of the guitar and to the machine heads

page 25-26 Exercises 10 through 15 show the chromatic notes on all of the strings for the first 4 frets.

page 27-28 Exercises 16 through 27 are exercises on all of the strings to facilitate learning the notes.

page 29-32 How to count eight notes (quavers in British). Exercises 28 to 39 deal with playing eight notes with the index finger moving in and out (up and down like a pick).

page 32 Starts the explanation of major scales. Exercise 40 and 41.

page 33-34 Starts the explanatio of major and minor chord structures

page 35 Explains the tonality of D major

page 36 Exercises 43 and 44 are exercises whihc demonstrate how to use both the index finger and the thumb.

page 37 to 39 Here is a detailed explanation about how to play the Traditional Fado in D Major (that is, how to play Fado Maior (em Re Maior). This piece has the Portuguese guitarra and the vocal part in notation and tablature and it has the viola (Spanish-type "guitar") accopaniment in notation.

page 40-41 Execise 46 show 9 ways to pick the arpeggio for the Fado Maior.

page 42 Show the tonality of D minor. With examples in exercises 47 and 48.

page 43-45 Here is a detailed presentation on playing the Fado Menor (like that given for the Fado Maior)

page 46-47 Exercise show 8 ways to pick the arpeggio for the Fado Menor

page 48-49 Here in exercise 51, a complete Fado Maior in D Major is presented along with some variations.

page 50-51 Here in exercise 52, a complete Fado Menor in D Minor is presented with some variations.

The price for Book 1 (Cebolo) with the CD is $50, Book 2, 3, 4, 5 (Cebolo) with CD and DVD is $60, Sons de Lisboa (Sounds of Lisbon) with CD is $60 plus $7.00 for shipping for 1 book in the United States, shipping for 1 book is $9 to Canada. For shipping of several books or to other countries contact me.

Mail money order or international postal money order (if you are outside the U.S.) to: Fernandez Music, P.O. Box 5153, Irvine, CA 92616

We accept VISA and MasterCard. Contact us for how to send credit card information.

As of November 2012, the following books by Soares and Cebolo are still out of print. I include the information below so players can know that they exist(ed) and perhaps they can find old copies of them.

As of mid December 2006 I am out of the Soares method book and I have been told by Paolo Soares that his stock is exhausted but that he intends to revise the book and print another edition. When I have more copies I will note it on this site.

The first book is a masterpiece and the essential work for learning the Coimbra style portuguese guitarra. It is called Método de Guitarra Portuguesa: Bases para a Guitarra de Coimbra (Portuguese Guitar Method: basic techniques for the Coimbra Guitar) It was written by Paolo Soares, a fine performer and recognized teacher living in Coimbra. This method book was highly praised by guitarrists in Portugal when it appeared.

For several years after its original publication (1997), the Soares method book was very difficult to obtain. In 1999 I went to Lisbon to the distributor who had been out of stock for 6 months. In 2004 I was finally able to obtain copies directly from the author. This book has 154 pages, it is written in Portuguese and has a side by side excellent translation into English. The explanations of the playing techniques and notes on interpretation are very clear, authentic and professional. The transcriptions included in this work are of famous pieces from the Coimbra style repertorie.

For those who don't know, I should say that Carlos Paredes is considered a national treasure of Portugal for his wonderful contributions to the Coimbra guitarra. Carlos was the son of Artur Paredes who was regarded as a genius of the instrument. Gonçalo Paredes is highly regarded for his compositions.

If you are serious about the Coimbra guitarra this is the book for you (unfortunately the 1st and 2nd editions are out of print). Price for the 1st and 2nd edtions were $90 plus shipping (see below for details)

The Guitarra Magica by Eurico Cebolo (now permanently discontinued) was written in Portuguese, English and French. It was a very basic method (46 pages). It included a very extensive chord chart in all keys, basic chord sequences, and major and minor scales. It included some simple Portuguese songs and a few simple fado variations. It did not adequately describe the right hand techniques for modern Portuguese guitar. It demonstated a right hand arpeggio technique like that used on Spanish classical guitars. Very frankly, my explanation in the internet lesson of the right hand technique is more authentic than what is presented in this book. Nevertheless, this book was a starting point and was of use to someone who wants to learn the basic left hand chords and other introductory information. The new book (book 1) by Cebolo described at the top of the page has solved the deficiencies of the Guitarra Magica.

This book included the following in Portuguese, English and French:

page 3 Parts of the guitarra (with chart

page 4 Playing position (with photos)

page 5 Chart of the fingerboard

page 6 How ro read music

page 7, 8, 9 How to tune the guitarra

page 10 The right hand

page 11 Exercises on the 6 open strings

page 12 The left hand

page 13 Exercises on the six strings

page 14 Intervals of seconds, thirds, the left
hand bar

page 15 Intervals of fourths, fifths,
sixths

page 16 Intervals of sevenths, octaves,
accidentals

page 17 Intervals on each strings (chart), sharps,
flats, naturals

page 18 Chromatics scale on six strings, the notes
on the 6th string, the 5th string